Here's how to spend less time at the DPS getting your...

1of17People wait in line for the Texas Department of Public Safety Driver License building to open Monday, June 12, 2017, in Houston.Photo: Godofredo A. Vasquez, Staff / Houston Chronicle

2of17People waiting to be called in the waiting area of a Texas Department of Public Safety Driver License Mega Center at South Gessner Road on Friday, Aug. 23, 2019, in Houston.Photo: Yi-Chin Lee, Staff / Staff photographer

3of17Juevon Green Jr., center, fills out the form to get his first license while his girlfriend, Devia Sorrell, and nephew, Jabar Simmonds Jr., watch in waiting area of a Texas Department of Public Safety Driver License Mega Center at South Gessner Road on Friday, Aug. 23, 2019, in Houston.Photo: Yi-Chin Lee, Staff / Staff photographer

4of17People waiting to be called in the waiting area of a Texas Department of Public Safety Driver License Mega Center at South Gessner Road on Friday, Aug. 23, 2019, in Houston.Photo: Yi-Chin Lee, Staff / Staff photographer

5of17People get number tickets from the electronic kiosks in the lobby of a Texas Department of Public Safety Driver License Mega Center at South Gessner Road on Friday, Aug. 23, 2019, in Houston.Photo: Yi-Chin Lee, Staff / Staff photographer

7of17People get number tickets from the electronic kiosks in the lobby of a Texas Department of Public Safety Driver License Mega Center at South Gessner Road on Friday, Aug. 23, 2019, in Houston.Photo: Yi-Chin Lee, Staff / Staff photographer

8of17People waiting to be called in the waiting area of a Texas Department of Public Safety Driver License Mega Center at South Gessner Road on Friday, Aug. 23, 2019, in Houston.Photo: Yi-Chin Lee, Staff / Staff photographer

9of17Sean Palmer fills out a form to renew his license in the waiting area of a Texas Department of Public Safety Driver License Mega Center at South Gessner Road on Friday, Aug. 23, 2019, in Houston.Photo: Yi-Chin Lee, Staff / Staff photographer

10of17People get number tickets from the electronic kiosks in the lobby of a Texas Department of Public Safety Driver License Mega Center at South Gessner Road on Friday, Aug. 23, 2019, in Houston.Photo: Yi-Chin Lee, Staff / Staff photographer

12of17People waiting to be called in the waiting area of a Texas Department of Public Safety Driver License Mega Center at South Gessner Road on Friday, Aug. 23, 2019, in Houston.Photo: Yi-Chin Lee, Staff / Staff photographer

13of17Sean Palmer fills out a form to renew his license in the waiting area of a Texas Department of Public Safety Driver License Mega Center at South Gessner Road on Friday, Aug. 23, 2019, in Houston.Photo: Yi-Chin Lee, Staff / Staff photographer

14of17People waiting to be called in the waiting area of a Texas Department of Public Safety Driver License Mega Center at South Gessner Road on Friday, Aug. 23, 2019, in Houston.Photo: Yi-Chin Lee, Staff / Staff photographer

15of17People waiting to be called in the waiting area of a Texas Department of Public Safety Driver License Mega Center at South Gessner Road on Friday, Aug. 23, 2019, in Houston.Photo: Yi-Chin Lee, Staff / Staff photographer

16of17People waiting to be called in the waiting area of a Texas Department of Public Safety Driver License Mega Center at South Gessner Road on Friday, Aug. 23, 2019, in Houston.Photo: Yi-Chin Lee, Staff / Staff photographer

17of17People waiting to be called in the waiting area of a Texas Department of Public Safety Driver License Mega Center at South Gessner Road on Friday, Aug. 23, 2019, in Houston.Photo: Yi-Chin Lee, Staff / Staff photographer

(Editor’s note: This is “Houston How To,” a series on how to navigate the city and its complexities. Humans have an innate drive to improve themselves, and we’re always striving to live better. The Houston Chronicle wants to simplify that for you. What are things you need to know how to do, Houston? You can find me at gwendolyn.wu@chron.com.)

“Your time is too precious,” Gov. Greg Abbott told Twitter Monday night in a video where he asked the Texas Department of Public Safety to fix wait times at the understaffed state agency’s offices.

Like the inclusion of a baby grandfather clock on-camera to illustrated Abbott’s statements, waiting in line for hours at DPS is almost funny. The Texas Legislature approved $200 million in funding for the agency earlier this year, which will finally be released Sunday for the hiring and training of new employees, said DPS spokesman Craig Cummings.

Needless to say, it’s a late fix for the few-and-far-between mega centers and driver license offices. Applying for or renewing a driver license can be a hassle in Houston, especially in the summer months when appointment times are hard to come by.

But it’s possible to get in and out of area driver license offices in an hour or less — one Houston Chronicle staffer did it recently, and so can you. Here are our tips and tricks for speeding up the slow-moving lines at the DPS.

We know you’re tired of waiting in line to get a driver’s license.

So the Legislature provided the funding needed to add more staff & shorten lines.

The greater Houston area has 13 driver license offices. Five are mega centers: Houston Gessner, Houston North, Houston Southeast, Rosenberg and Spring. They were introduced as a way to consolidate wait times at some of the worst locations in years past.

DPS data shows average wait times upwards of an hour at eight of the locations, including every mega center. The worst one, by far, is Houston Gessner, topping the list with a 2-hour, 25-minute wait. Needless to say…don’t go there.

Here are your better options if you have services that can be handled at a smaller office: Livingston, Texas City, Humble, Houston East and Conroe. The average wait time at Livingston, which is over 75 miles from downtown Houston, is a mere 30 minutes. At that rate, you might as well take the whole day off and go for a hike in nature at Lake Livingston State Park.

But it’s also a shorter wait at the Texas City DPS office, clocking in at an average of 31 minutes and a 34 mile drive south. As tempted as you may be to go hang out in Galveston afterwards, you can reasonably make it back to the city without feeling like you’re wasting a whole day on the commute alone.

This map shows average wait times at Houston-area DPS offices for various driver license functions.

Photo: Ken Ellis / Houston Chronicle

The drive might be worth it for the extended hours at the Spring location, which stays open from 7:30 a.m. to 6 p.m but has over an hour’s wait.

More Information

With this quick list, figuring out what qualifies as appropriate proof of U.S. citizenship or photo I.D. isn’t hard. The Department of Public Safety counts these as valid forms.

Proof of U.S. citizenship or legal residency:

U.S. birth certificate

U.S. passport book or card

U.S. permanent resident card

U.S. citizenship or naturalization certificate

U.S. Department of State certificate for citizens born abroad

Immigrant visa or document with I-94 number

Photo identification:

Driver license or state ID card

U.S. passport book or card

U.S. permanent resident card

U.S. citizenship or naturalization certificate

Military photo ID card

Employment authorization card

Parole document with photo

American Indian card

Northern Mariana card

Foreign passport or visa

Immigrant visa or document with I-94 number

If you don’t have one of those photo IDs, you need to produce two forms of the documents listed here on the Texas DPS website.

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“Get in line online”, the automotive equivalent of camping the Ticketmaster website for Beyonce tickets, allows you to book a time to show up at a Texas DPS location by entering a phone number as an identifier. That can dramatically cut down your wait time and save you the burden of waiting in the heat. It’s only available at some DPS locations.

The trade-off is that you have to wake up very early. Time slots go fast, and they must be requested on the day of, which means the best times are available early in the morning. At the Houston Chronicle, we were able to find appointments for the Houston North Mega Center when we checked the DPS site at 7 a.m., 8:30 a.m. and 9:20 a.m., but across the city at Houston Gessner, time slots were gone by 9 a.m.

But maybe you can’t get an appointment online, or it’s not feasible to be up so early.You can show up without getting in line online, but in this broiling heat, the line that forms shortly before each DPS location opens can feel like a conveyor belt to an oven. If possible, avoid going in the summer, on Mondays or Fridays, which are the most crowded days at the offices.

Doors open at 7:30 a.m. at four of Houston's DPS locations: the Houston North Mega Center, Rosenberg Mega Center, Spring Mega Center and Houston Gessner Mega Center. The Houston Southeast Mega Center opens at 8 a.m. Consider lining up 30 minutes early so you can finish early and be on your way.

Getting your first Texas license

For people new to driving or new to Texas, the key is to be prepared and plan ahead. Brand new drivers must take written and driving tests in addition to producing legal documents and a completed driver license application. Not every DPS office offers a drive test, and the most efficient way to find out if a location offers one is to type your ZIP code into their search. Don’t click the “Schedule a Drive Test” button on that page — instead, look through the 20 Houston metropolitan area options to find one that has drive test scheduling listed on the ZIP code search results page. Commercial truck driver hopefuls are also in a similar boat.

The driving test can be booked up to three months in advance, Cummings said.

If you’re new to Texas, there are two options. You can turn in your out-of-state driver license and not have to take any test, or keep your out-of-state license and take the written and driving tests as though you are a new driver.

Before you can apply for a new license, you have to do several things.

First, you must switch your car insurance to your new mailing address. After that, take your vehicle in for an inspection at one of the local stations. Practically every automotive shop in Houston will do inspections. There’s a cluttered Vehicle Inspection Station Locator page on the Texas DPS website, but it’s sorted alphabetically by city name once you choose your search parameters (ZIP code, city or county), making it tough to find a nearby location. It would be easier to check for local auto shops on Google Maps and drive by ones near your home to check for state inspection signs.

You’ll receive a vehicle inspection report, which you must bring along with a completed Form 130-U, updated insurance card and previous registration or title to the Harris County tax office, which has multiple locations and a nifty wait time counter updated every hour.

You’ll also have to plunk down $51.75 at the office, $1 of which officials say goes toward electronic insurance verification and “other Department of Public Safety initiatives.” It’s payable by cash, check, debit card, credit card, money order or cashier’s check.

(By the way, there is a “new resident tax” up to $90 on a vehicle newly registered in Texas.)

With all that done, there’s time to take a deep breath…and start assembling the documents for a driver license.

New drivers and new Texans alike have to fill out the DL-14A form. With that comes a host of other documents: a form of ID proving your U.S. citizenship or legal residency, photo ID and evidence of Texas vehicle registration and proof of insurance. If you don’t own a vehicle, you must sign a statement saying so.

If you don’t have one of those forms of photo ID, you need to produce two forms of the documents listed on the Texas DPS website.

The process is a little simpler for people just renewing their licenses.

In Texas, you have the option of renewing your license online if it’s current or been expired for less than two years. Check online or call 1-866-357-3639 to see if you qualify.

“More than 50 percent of customers eligible to conduct their transaction online, by phone or by mail are not taking advantage of these convenient options,” Cummings said.

If the last time you renewed your license was online, you have to come in for your next renewal. Others who have licenses that expired more than two years ago must visit a driver license office. Before going to the DPS, triple-check your documents. If you’re asked to go to one of those centers, it’s just a few required papers: expired driver license, passport or birth certificate and renewal application.

The mega center is kind of a time-saver. And I say “kind of” for good reason: There are more staff, some of whom may even offer to check out your documents to save you from being turned away if you don’t have everything you need.

(If you’re a survivor of domestic violence, sexual violence, stalking or human trafficking — the state attorney general’s office has an address confidentiality program that can replace your address on your driver license.)

Pack a beach bag if you plan to wait outside. The bare essentials are bottled water, a snack, portable charger for your phone, sunscreen and a baseball cap for the summer days or a warm coat for the winter weeks.

Gwendolyn Wu writes the Houston How To column and about the business of healthcare for the Houston Chronicle through the Hearst Journalism Fellowship. Prior to moving to Texas, she was a metro reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, where she was part of the award-winning breaking news team that covered the deadly Camp Fire.

Gwendolyn hails from the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles and graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara with degrees in history and sociology. She’s an active member of the Asian American Journalists Association. In her spare time, she likes testing new recipes, exploring used bookstores and eating her way through new cities.